%0 Conference Paper %B 23rd Annual European Real Estate Society Conference %D 2016 %T Does a Green-Certified Storefront Mean More Income? Estimating Financial Benefits of Certification for Space Users %A Avis Devine %A Qingqing Chang %X Much research has been completed on income and valuation premiums to owners and operators of sustainable and energy efficient (SEE) real estate. However, little work examines the financial benefit to the space users, outside of decreased operations costs in office space. As the retail industry begins to adopt SEE certification, the implications for the space users are of utmost interest, as retailers may be unwilling to pay a rental rate premium for SEE certified space if there is not a user benefit. Since location-specific business income data is difficult to obtain, this research examines the question utilizing a novel proxy: retail bank branch deposits. Through an examination of deposit growth, it is determined that LEED certified branches have not only an increased probability of above-market-rate deposit growth, but also experience notably higher year-over-year deposit growth. Energy Star certification is also analyzed and found to offer little income-increasing benefit to the space user. These results are tested in an event study which validates the findings, and further indicates that the benefits of LEED extend years past initial certification, indicating the lasting income-related benefits of LEED certification for retail space users. %B 23rd Annual European Real Estate Society Conference %S ERES: Conference %C Regensburg, Germany %G ENG %! Conference: 2016 %& Sustainable Real Estate %R 10.15396/eres2016_288